November 19, 1978, Associated Press / Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal, U.S. Rep., Newsmen Shot, Feared Dead,
November 24, 1978, Associated Press / Wilmington Morning Star, U.S. protects cultists fearing for their lives,
November 24, 1978, N.Y. Times News Service / The Wilmington, Star-News, Doctor searches for mother in Guyana cult,
October 22, 1986, Associated Press, Peoples Temple Defectors Feared Layton, by Bob Egelko,
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November 19, 1978, Dallas Times Herald, Congressman, newsmen feared slain during mission to Guyana, by Steven Hurst,
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November 19, 1978, Associated Press - Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal, U.S. Rep., Newsmen Shot, Feared Dead,
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The State Department said late Saturday it has been told Rep. Leo J. Ryan, D-Calif., and a number of reporters have been shot and killed after an attack on the congressman's fact finding mission at the airport in Port Kaituma, Guyana.
Ryan was leading a 13 person delegation investigating a controversial American religious settlement at Jonestown in the South American country.
State Department Spokesman Tom Reston said the report reached Washington by a flash message from the U.S. embassy in Guyana, formerly a British colony. Reston said the shooting and Ryan's death have not been confirmed,
Reston said the report was relayed by a pilot who was flying Ryan, a group of reporters and a Ryan staff worker, to the People's Temple, a settlement of about 1,200 Americans established in Guyana a year ago by Jim Jones, a former San Francisco city official.
The pilot escaped by flying away from the attackers in one of two planes on the landing strip near the settlement.
Before leaving San Francisco five days ago Ryan said: "I am going to investigate the conditions of Americans (in the Jones settlement) who, I have been told, are working from dawn to nightfall, with terrible mental and physical punishments if they don't work hard enough."
The State Department said it is unclear when the shootings occurred.
Jeff Dieterich, of the department's Latin America desk, said the pilot, who has not been identified by name or nationality, reported it appeared an entire NBC-TV crew headed by Correspondent Don Harris, was shot along with Ryan. It was unclear about the crew's condition, Dieterich said. Also left behind after the shooting was Mark Lane, the lawyer representing James Earl Ray, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassin. Lane was along as counsel for Jones.
Dieterich, said reports from the U.S. mission showed that two planes had flown to Jonestown and were preparing to leave when the shooting broke out.
He said some nine members of the controversial settlement were leaving with Ryan and had boarded one of the planes when one of the nine pulled a gun and began shooting.
The pilot and crew members from the plane that was to carry the departing sect members jumped from the plane Dieterich said, ran to a second plane and flew from the remote Port Kaituma strip.
The pilot reported general panic with Ryan and the NBC crew lying as if dead, others still moving but wounded and still others running for cover.
Dieterich said the Port Kaituma strip is not lighted and is blocked by the damaged plane. He said Guyana officials were flying soldiers and police to a nearby, lighted airport. He said confirmation of the shootings probably would not be available before first light this morning.
Those on the flight were: Miss Jackie Speier, legislative counsel to Ryan; Lane; Charles Gary, a lawyer; Richard Dwyer, U.S. deputy chief of mission at Georgetown, Guyana; Harris; Bob Flick, NBC-TV; Ron Javers, the San Francisco Chronicle; Tim Rieterman, the San Francisco Examiner; Charles Krause, The Washington Post; Gregory Robinson, the San Francisco Examiner; S. Song, NBC; and Robert Brown, NBC.
The controversial People's Temple first was founded by Jones in Northern California 15 years ago and claims a
(See SHOOTING on page 6A)
membership of 20,000. Jones set up the Guyana settlement after he resigned from his job as director of the San Francisco Housing Authority, an appointed position.
After resigning, he established the Guyana settlement, an agricultural community made up of California members who followed him to South America.
The controversy leading to Jones' resignation in San Francisco arose when former members of the religious cult in California accused him of staging fake religious healings and beating members of the sect.
Jones founded the People's Temple in California on a belief he could erase oppression of the poor, eradicate class distinctions and prove that people from various backgrounds could live together, a church news release claimed.
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November 24, 1978, Associated Press / Wilmington Morning Star, U.S. protects cultists fearing for their lives,
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November 24, 1978, N.Y. Times News Service - The Wilmington, Star-News, Doctor searches for mother in Guyana cult,
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October 22, 1986, Associated Press, Peoples Temple Defectors Feared Layton, by Bob Egelko,
10:28 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Former Peoples Temple member Larry Layton was met with frightened screams when he boarded a truck full of people trying to flee the Rev. Jim Jones' compound in Guyana, a witness testified Wednesday.
Layton faces murder conspiracy charges in the November 1978 shootings at a Guyana airstrip in which Rep. Leo Ryan, three newsmen and a temple defector were killed and several others wounded.
Testifying at Layton's second trial on the charges, reporter Ron Javers said Layton had boarded the truck which took defectors from the Jonestown compound to the airstrip, saying he, too, wanted to leave.
"They (the defectors) all began to scream and yell, 'No, no, no, he's one of Jones' people, he's got a gun, he's going to kill us,'" Javers told the federal court jury.
Javers, who was working for the San Francisco Chronicle at the time, said he and other newsmen "slammed Larry Layton against the side of the truck and began to question him very intensively, who he was, what he was doing."
He said Layton replied, "I want to get out of Jonestown." Javers said he asked Layton what he thought of Jones, and he answered, "I hate Jim Jones." He said newsmen also gave Layton a pat search but found no gun.
The truck was carrying dissident members of the cult who had been allowed by Jones to leave the South American jungle compound along with Ryan, who was winding up a visit to investigate conditions at Jonestown.
After the truck arrived at the airstrip, a Peoples Temple ambush squad opened fire, killing Ryan and four others. Javers, who was shot in the shoulder, escaped into the jungle.
Shortly afterward, Jones and 912 followers died by poison and gunfire in a murder-suicide ritual at Jonestown.
Prosecutors say Layton had been posing as a defector. At the airstrip, they say, he boarded a small plane separate from the one that was to carry Ryan and shot and wounded two defectors before he was overpowered. Layton had been slipped a gun by another temple member, prosecutors say.
Acquitted in Guyana on attempted murder charges, Layton was charged in the United States with conspiring to murder Ryan and Richard Dwyer, the deputy U.S. chief of mission in Guyana who was among the wounded.
The prosecution contends the shootings resulted from a plot by Jones and others to keep the outside world from learning about conditions at Jonestown. The defense contends Layton knew nothing of any plans to shoot Ryan and Dwyer, but had been deluded by Jones into believing the temple defectors were CIA agents and wanted to kill them.
Layton is the only former temple member to be charged in the U.S. in connection with the shootings. His first trial ended in a hung jury in 1981.
© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
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November 19, 1978, Dallas Times Herald, Congressman, newsmen feared slain during mission to Guyana, by Steven Hurst,
November 19, 1978, Associated Press - Daytona Beach Sunday News-Journal, U.S. Rep., Newsmen Shot, Feared Dead,
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The State Department said late Saturday it has been told Rep. Leo J. Ryan, D-Calif., and a number of reporters have been shot and killed after an attack on the congressman's fact finding mission at the airport in Port Kaituma, Guyana.
Ryan was leading a 13 person delegation investigating a controversial American religious settlement at Jonestown in the South American country.
State Department Spokesman Tom Reston said the report reached Washington by a flash message from the U.S. embassy in Guyana, formerly a British colony. Reston said the shooting and Ryan's death have not been confirmed,
Reston said the report was relayed by a pilot who was flying Ryan, a group of reporters and a Ryan staff worker, to the People's Temple, a settlement of about 1,200 Americans established in Guyana a year ago by Jim Jones, a former San Francisco city official.
The pilot escaped by flying away from the attackers in one of two planes on the landing strip near the settlement.
Before leaving San Francisco five days ago Ryan said: "I am going to investigate the conditions of Americans (in the Jones settlement) who, I have been told, are working from dawn to nightfall, with terrible mental and physical punishments if they don't work hard enough."
The State Department said it is unclear when the shootings occurred.
Jeff Dieterich, of the department's Latin America desk, said the pilot, who has not been identified by name or nationality, reported it appeared an entire NBC-TV crew headed by Correspondent Don Harris, was shot along with Ryan. It was unclear about the crew's condition, Dieterich said. Also left behind after the shooting was Mark Lane, the lawyer representing James Earl Ray, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassin. Lane was along as counsel for Jones.
Dieterich, said reports from the U.S. mission showed that two planes had flown to Jonestown and were preparing to leave when the shooting broke out.
He said some nine members of the controversial settlement were leaving with Ryan and had boarded one of the planes when one of the nine pulled a gun and began shooting.
The pilot and crew members from the plane that was to carry the departing sect members jumped from the plane Dieterich said, ran to a second plane and flew from the remote Port Kaituma strip.
The pilot reported general panic with Ryan and the NBC crew lying as if dead, others still moving but wounded and still others running for cover.
Dieterich said the Port Kaituma strip is not lighted and is blocked by the damaged plane. He said Guyana officials were flying soldiers and police to a nearby, lighted airport. He said confirmation of the shootings probably would not be available before first light this morning.
Those on the flight were: Miss Jackie Speier, legislative counsel to Ryan; Lane; Charles Gary, a lawyer; Richard Dwyer, U.S. deputy chief of mission at Georgetown, Guyana; Harris; Bob Flick, NBC-TV; Ron Javers, the San Francisco Chronicle; Tim Rieterman, the San Francisco Examiner; Charles Krause, The Washington Post; Gregory Robinson, the San Francisco Examiner; S. Song, NBC; and Robert Brown, NBC.
The controversial People's Temple first was founded by Jones in Northern California 15 years ago and claims a
(See SHOOTING on page 6A)
membership of 20,000. Jones set up the Guyana settlement after he resigned from his job as director of the San Francisco Housing Authority, an appointed position.
After resigning, he established the Guyana settlement, an agricultural community made up of California members who followed him to South America.
The controversy leading to Jones' resignation in San Francisco arose when former members of the religious cult in California accused him of staging fake religious healings and beating members of the sect.
Jones founded the People's Temple in California on a belief he could erase oppression of the poor, eradicate class distinctions and prove that people from various backgrounds could live together, a church news release claimed.
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November 24, 1978, Associated Press / Wilmington Morning Star, U.S. protects cultists fearing for their lives,
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November 24, 1978, N.Y. Times News Service - The Wilmington, Star-News, Doctor searches for mother in Guyana cult,
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October 22, 1986, Associated Press, Peoples Temple Defectors Feared Layton, by Bob Egelko,
10:28 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Former Peoples Temple member Larry Layton was met with frightened screams when he boarded a truck full of people trying to flee the Rev. Jim Jones' compound in Guyana, a witness testified Wednesday.
Layton faces murder conspiracy charges in the November 1978 shootings at a Guyana airstrip in which Rep. Leo Ryan, three newsmen and a temple defector were killed and several others wounded.
Testifying at Layton's second trial on the charges, reporter Ron Javers said Layton had boarded the truck which took defectors from the Jonestown compound to the airstrip, saying he, too, wanted to leave.
"They (the defectors) all began to scream and yell, 'No, no, no, he's one of Jones' people, he's got a gun, he's going to kill us,'" Javers told the federal court jury.
Javers, who was working for the San Francisco Chronicle at the time, said he and other newsmen "slammed Larry Layton against the side of the truck and began to question him very intensively, who he was, what he was doing."
He said Layton replied, "I want to get out of Jonestown." Javers said he asked Layton what he thought of Jones, and he answered, "I hate Jim Jones." He said newsmen also gave Layton a pat search but found no gun.
The truck was carrying dissident members of the cult who had been allowed by Jones to leave the South American jungle compound along with Ryan, who was winding up a visit to investigate conditions at Jonestown.
After the truck arrived at the airstrip, a Peoples Temple ambush squad opened fire, killing Ryan and four others. Javers, who was shot in the shoulder, escaped into the jungle.
Shortly afterward, Jones and 912 followers died by poison and gunfire in a murder-suicide ritual at Jonestown.
Prosecutors say Layton had been posing as a defector. At the airstrip, they say, he boarded a small plane separate from the one that was to carry Ryan and shot and wounded two defectors before he was overpowered. Layton had been slipped a gun by another temple member, prosecutors say.
Acquitted in Guyana on attempted murder charges, Layton was charged in the United States with conspiring to murder Ryan and Richard Dwyer, the deputy U.S. chief of mission in Guyana who was among the wounded.
The prosecution contends the shootings resulted from a plot by Jones and others to keep the outside world from learning about conditions at Jonestown. The defense contends Layton knew nothing of any plans to shoot Ryan and Dwyer, but had been deluded by Jones into believing the temple defectors were CIA agents and wanted to kill them.
Layton is the only former temple member to be charged in the U.S. in connection with the shootings. His first trial ended in a hung jury in 1981.
© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
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